Game Development: Haven & Hearth on Steam

[jorb]

We could've tried the 3-4 month or 6 month wipe period before the Steam release and after every system has been thoroughly tuned and tested to this shorter wipe cycle.

That could be argued, but the thinking here was ofc that the increased visibility could offset the effects of bifurcation in a nice way.

[Pills]

Think something is wrong with steam page. Clicking direct link works, searching on google works. But searching via steam store and website gets me nothing at all.

[Robben_DuMarsch]

Think something is wrong with steam page. Clicking direct link works, searching on google works. But searching via steam store and website gets me nothing at all.

Traditionally, Steam has had rolling updates to it's indexes and other databases on Tuesday evening US time. If that is how it still works, I'd expect it to be searchable in like 36 hours unless something else is holding it up.

[jorb]

There is no mention that worlds will be reset on steam, there's even mention of a "...game world, which can be permanently and fundamentally changed...". You need to make that very clear, otherwise there will be a massive deluge of negative reviews when people see their characters deleted at the end, alongside the ones from people who got griefed during the world. An early access label would be very good.

Good points! I agree!

[Robben_DuMarsch]

Hey Jorb, responding to your request for user media, here's a stitched together panoramic shot of Whatever Bay taken shortly after we won the 5 faction siege earlier in the world: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... ede7ef9a3&

Not sure if it's in a format you can use. But it's super cool (credit to Vetinari, a villager of ours.)

[NknightN]

Is it worth launching W16 and S1 steam together, or is it better to launch W16 in at least 1-2 months?

H&H is not displayed in the steam search and in the wish list. But if you click on the link, the game page will be displayed. What is the reason for this? Is Steam checking the game?

[mulamishne]

Is it worth launching W16 and S1 steam together, or is it better to launch W16 in at least 1-2 months?

H&H is not displayed in the steam search and in the wish list. But if you click on the link, the game page will be displayed. What is the reason for this? Is Steam checking the game?

It's poetic that the haven steam page is complicated to get to.

[Granger]

My prediction: First few days will get positive reviews (except the many ones complaining about the client), estimated 10 minutes after the usual suspects reached the ability to slaughter newbies it'll be only downhill (to put it nicely... I expect free fall) from there on.

Good luck anyway, you'll need it.

[NoBizd]

I feel like the devs were kinda mislead into thinking steam is some sort of free huge exposure while right now you cannot even search for it in the app (At least i can't).

Well, becasue Steam IS free and huge exposure if you have know-how. That's basically one of bigger part for what good publishers are taking their cut for. There is few tricks that can help even niche and free games from small studios. But J&L sadly are like babe in the woods, clearly having no idea about what they are doing. No offence, but that was clear on stream - 0 knowledge about reviews, wishlists, early access and so on.

If the baby does not try to get up, he will not learn to walk

An absurd comparison. When baby falls, most of the time it can try to get up again. If J&L fluff the HnH Steam launch is pretty much over, they won't fix it without investing money into it. It's basically one time chance, especially with their current knowledge about the Steam.

[azrid]

With short seasonal worlds you won't need to worry too much about developing an infinite grind endgame.
Steam server will be the new main server and old Haven will be the dead server.
This change feels like when legacy ended. The end of an era.
I'm glad the game will be playable on day one unlike w8.

The biggest legitimate concern people have are their accumulated hearth fire inventories and ongoing subs.
The good thing about this is that the economy wont be ruined by many years of accumulated wealth.
Its also understandable that people might feel robbed of their treasures.
An elegant fix would be to transfer hearth inventories but have the items be non tradeable versions of themselves.
You could also just give remaining sub time on steam launch for people who request it from their old account.

I'm looking forward to the new changes. Hopefully the first season will remain 3-4 months just to see how it plays out. We as a community should be more brave to try out new things with each season.
The possibilities for new game seasons to have different rulesets will be exciting.
For example a more brutal world with thinner walls and deadlier foes. The possibilities are endless.

Good job guys!